The present invention relates to the production and distribution of mail pieces for mass mailing and more particularly to the more efficient use of hybrid mail. Per the present invention, data concerning mail piece content, addressee information and the like, is electronically transmitted to a service center wherein mail pieces directed to the addressee are automatically produced with respect to line of route distribution including addressee address. By making this sorting step electronically and in advance of mass mail item printing, substantial resources are saved.
Mass mailing is a frequent tool for banks, advertising agencies and the like. Data, such as addressee name and address, letter content, and the like, must be provided to facilitate printing of mail items for mass mailing. The letter contents are printed, if necessary stuffed into envelopes via envelope stuffing machines, and sent to the closest post office or outgoing sorting center. The stuffed envelopes are then xe2x80x9cout-sortedxe2x80x9d (normally according to city, resp. postal code) and transported to the incoming center where they are xe2x80x9cin-sortedxe2x80x9d according to street name. The last sorting process happens at a delivery center, where the letter carrier sorts the mail in the order of his or her delivery route (line-of-route distribution). Then the letter is delivered. FIG. 1 depicts this current process for mass mailings.
Hybrid mail is an outcome of recent developments in computer technology and electronic communication in particular. Hybrid mail is a cross between conventional paper mail and e-mail. Herein, text and address information is transmitted electronically to a service center wherein the letters are produced. One popular form of hybrid-mail is a bank customers"" statement of account. As depicted in FIG. 2, an order goes from a bank to a postal administration for the generating of bank statements. The bank provides relevant data, including bank statement contents, addressee information and the like. The postal administration then sorts the data in such a way that each hybrid mail center receives data for the clients"" according to the clients geographic region. The statement may not be presented on neutral paper. Rather, a unique specific bank identifying paper is required. Typically, the hybrid mail center has the corresponding blank forms in stock for each of its customers, the forms being either self-produced or obtained from third parties. This is necessary should leaflets or other information need be inserted with the account statements. The blank forms are put into the printer and customer data is printed thereon, in black/white, in accordance with data provided by the bank. Afterwards, the statements of account are inserted into unprofessionally looking window envelopes and a postage stamp is affixed thereon.
As known from EP 536 640 B1, an alternative process is known wherein envelopes are printed with addresses and envelope contents are printed and inserted therein. Accordingly, it is no longer necessary to use window envelopes. To effect this process, the envelope content is scanned, the address portion defined, and the envelope imprinted with this information. Two printing lines are herein required: one for the content and one for the envelope. Should it be necessary to add leaflets, then this addition would be effected normally by the envelope stuffing machine during the above envelope procedure. The thus produced letters are then transported to the next closest incoming center and further processed along the same lines as conventional mail. A disadvantage to this system lies in the coordination of the printing and the composition of the mail deliveries which becomes expensive and logistically complicated.
Mass mailings current account for 70 to 90% of the total mail volume. Of this, about 5 to 15% start off as hybrid mail and this number depends upon country. This is generally true despite the presence of mail data in electronic formxe2x80x94a major prerequisite for hybrid mail. One major reason for the very limited use of hybrid mail today lies with a lack of economic effectiveness. The only savings, apart from the outgoing sorting process, is in saved transportation of the letters from the outgoing sorting center to the incoming sorting center. This saving is naturally very low with smaller states or countries. On the other hand, it explains why today the degree of application of hybrid mail is the highest in larger countries.
An additional limitation for hybrid mailing lay in the requirement for specialized forms unique to each customer. This become more complicated when leaflets and other insertions are involved. The numerous forms require storage space, stockpiled forms, and other resource commitments. The various forms effectively limit the number of customers and potential for unique mass mailings.
An advantage of the present invention is to make use of the advantages of hybrid mail while doing away with the burdens. An additional advantage is to make mass mailings easier and more available to a wider variety of customers. A further advantage includes the saving of various sorting steps and resources associated therewith. The sorting steps include in-sorting and line of route sorting. These and other advantages will become clear from the present invention which is set out in more detail below.
The present invention achieves these and other advantages by focusing on receiver oriented data rather than the state of the art sender oriented data. In the inventive method, letters are produced in their courier line of route distribution order, with the use of high speed color laser printers located at the service or distribution centers. Given the freedom of laser printing and computer formatting, it is no longer necessary to maintain large stocks of specialized preprinted forms. The data is presorted at a central location prior to printing. The data may be sorted at regional or central service centers which control or maintain at least one database into which the data of new orders of all major customers (banks, insurances, etc.) is fed and sorted according to receiver. Thereafter, the data may be sent to distribution centers which print the mail, in real time or with a built in delay, at the local location. The printing may still occur in a more central or regional location depending upon local requirements. An integrated system may further be used, the system located for example in the service centers and comprising integrated color printers and enveloping stuffing machines. The two may be networked and otherwise centrally controlled. Likewise, the printer may comprise a four color printer, laser, ink jet and the like. With the two, printable leaflets may also be produced on-line and in delivery route order.
A further production item is the creation of the envelope which carries the mass mailing. Herein, data for a color layout of the front side of envelopes associated with select mail pieces is sorted and transmitted along with the contents data. Printing occurs sequentially such that mail items and envelope covers, labels or overlays are printed together. The overlay may then be affixed to the envelopes and the contents stuffed therein. This allows for the production of qualitatively high mail pieces which are indistinguishable from the mail pieces printed on preprinted forms. As such, it is no longer necessary to keep on hand preprinted special envelopes or forms. The completing of the envelopes can occur in another embodiment by pasting the overlay onto the available back side of the envelopes with narrow adhesive straps so as to produce finished envelopes.
To carry out the printing process as economically as possible, it is advantageous to print the transmitted data on sheets. Afterwards, the sheets are separated from each other and cut into any desired or required format. To reduce online separating and cutting, it is also possible to print the single sheets true to format and size.
It is further advantageous to gather all necessary imprints, like receiver address, sender address in graphic design, orders (e.g. change of address, return to sender, etc.), logos, stamps and if requested machine readable distributing codes into the colored layout of the front side of the envelope. No reading of the receiver address is necessary with the OCR reader because of the imprinted machine-readable codes at the coded complete address. This could be necessary for additional mechanical sorting processes and for the integrating with other mail pieces.
In a further advantageous design, the value of the stamps to be printed is determined by a table of rates stored in a database and verified or known beforehand according to the table of the applicable mail item characteristics. The passage of the mail pieces through a separate postage meter machine is therefore no longer necessary.